How the Ukraine War Impacts Food Security in MENA
Read: Rising Prices and Political Instability in Lebanon, Iran and SudanTurkey has said it wouldn't experience wheat and sunflower oil shortages.
Iran’s Proxies in the Middle East: A Halted Transition to Politics?
ran-backed proxies are involved in almost every major crisis in the Middle East.
Turkey and Israel: A Marriage of Convenience and Necessity?
Read: UAE Foreign Policy: Good Neighborliness for Now?Thus, regional actors in the Middle East cannot afford to be involved in an unending geopolitical struggle with each other, especially when the Iranian threat is looming.
The GCC States’ Russian Dilemma
Read: Iran’s Bitter Choice and the Russia-Ukraine War
What is at stake? Deepened and diversified Russia-GCC ties
One of the most important reasons for the GCC to refrain from a decisive stance against Russia is the intensified, deepened, and diversified relations between the Gulf monarchies and Moscow.
Despite Peace in the Gulf, Qatar and the UAE Still Compete
While other regional powers like Turkey, Israel, and Iran expect to benefit from the new Gulf diplomacy and its economic offers, the overall security perceptions of political actors in the Gulf and the Middle East continue to be unstable.
Turkey-Saudi Normalization: A Larger Regional Bloc at the Door?
Primarily, thawing the icy relations between the two regional giants would rectify the intra-GCC and intra-Sunni bloc divisions that Iran has exploited to flex its muscles in the region.
What Awaits Lebanon Following Hariri’s Step-down from Politics
n a televised interview on the Iranian Al-Alam news channel on February 8, secretary general of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, revealed that they wished the ex-Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, reconsider his bombshell decision of “suspending” his political career, announced on January 24.
The U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq: One Boot Inside, the Other Out?
and Iran-linked Shiite militias, but it also enabled the Iraqi parliament to request then Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to end foreign military presence in Iraq.
The Saudi-Iranian Rivalry in Yemen
or decades, the geopolitical and geo-sectarian rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has played out across the Middle East in various destabilizing ways.
UAE Foreign Policy: Good Neighborliness for Now?
Read: War Within War in Yemen: Agendas and Prospects of Warring PartiesIn contrast to Saudi Arabia, the UAE has been more willing to establish relations regional actors like Iran or Israel.
Macron, the Gulf, and Islam
Read: The Lebanese Catch-22: Squeezed between Iran and Saudi ArabiaThe last and most controversial stop of Macron’s trip to the Gulf, in France at least, was his visit to Saudi Arabia.
Arms Sell Like Hotcakes: Yemen Turns into a Hub for Arm Dealers
Here, I will discuss the three main countries that have been involved in arms trafficking, directly and indirectly, in the Yemen civil war: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Saudi-Turkish Relations: A Possible Breakthrough?
Yet, it has been facing increasing defense hardships and security vulnerabilities vis-à-vis growing threats to its national security from its surroundings, and particularly from pro-Iran militias.
Managing the Rivalry between the UAE and Turkey
Since the start of 2021, the UAE has been de-escalating tensions with regional actors including Syria and Iran.
The Lebanese Catch-22: Squeezed between Iran and Saudi Arabia
Riyadh seemed to have taken offense in Cordahi’s statements on Yemen, where he said that the Iran-aligned Houthi group was "defending itself .
Iran Outsources War and Rules States by Proxy
hile there always seem to be efforts to rehabilitate Iran’s image at both a regional and international level, usually attempting to make Tehran appear to be the victim rather than the victimizer, few would be naïve enough to deny the fact that Iranian ambitions can actively be classified as being imperial in nature.
Why Iran Is Concerned with Taliban 2.0
Iran had played a vital role in overthrowing the Taliban in 2001 by sharing key intelligence input with the United States and showing its full support for the Northern Alliance, the main group opposing the Taliban.
On Afghanistan and Legitimate Resistance: Should Hamas, Hezbollah Learn from the Taliban?
The latter category was eventually expanded to include Iraq, Iran and Syria.
Raisi’s Foreign Policy: Notes on Iran’s New Cabinet
brahim Raisi, ex-judiciary chief of Iran, has been elected as the new president in Iran’s June 2021 presidential elections.
Realpolitik vs. Idealpolitik: Turkey-Gulf Re-friending after a Decade-Long Rivalry
invasion of Iraq, which strengthened the Shiite position in the country, and the rising Iranian influence in the region had an important impact on their consideration of Turkey as a potential partner.
